Teachers and staff didn't see a weapon when a suspended student entered their school on Jan. 26 and threatened to shoot them, but they believed he had access to one, a police report says.

Their fears were confirmed when police caught 18-year-old Eric D. Knox carrying a loaded .22 revolver in his backpack after unsuccessfully fleeing Western Career Prep High School on foot.

Knox had threatened to open fire on a teacher after the teacher approached him and asked why he was on school property, according to a Jackson County Sheriff's Office report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Police were called to the school at approximately 7:53 a.m. Knox had been recently suspended after making several threats to another student, a school administrator told them.